Booker T Washington

Fredrick Douglas argued that African American should stop trying to move to the north because of multiple reasons. He felt as though the north couldn’t handle large increases of new people, the jobs that the African Americans were used to were in the south and the African Americans could demand better pay, and also moving to the South wouldn’t be enforcing the idea of freedom in the South. Washington also supports the idea of staying in the South instead of moving to the North to get away from everything. He makes the argument that plowing fields is just as useful as using our brains. African Americans are almost embarrassed to use their hands because they think that their old jobs are less worthy than going to the north and learning to write poetry or use their brains in other ways. He talks about the how the African American race will never be able to succeed until they learn that there is as much dignity in working in the fields as doing anything else. He also talks about how African Americans can’t just automatically start at the top. They have to be able to work up their ranks in order to succeed. These are the arguments he used to encourage African Americans to stay in the South instead of automatically moving to the north because they feel like that is the better place to live, and the place they will be guaranteed to succeed.